(This is part of an open ended series of posts where I write down random things I feel are sharable from the years of mailing lists I’ve not caught up on…)

I don’t know when exactly I first met Johanna Rothman. I think it was semi-officially at an Agile conference, but then she was in Toronto for an event and said she’d be at the hotel bar if people wanted to hang out. So I popped down. And then she co-facilitated the PSL batch I went through. Of course, I knew ‘of her’ from her books and the old agile-testing mailing list prior to that.

Apparently I’ve been hoarding her Pragmatic Manger mailing list since December 2017 – 62 messages. And so commences a time-boxed (something I learned from her, though is more of a ‘task/time box of an hour + rounding to next year end’) navigating of that mailbox with the usual cherry-picking.

I consider myself a Generation 1.5 Weinborg, so it is not much of a shock how much of her writing jives with how I manage. Even if she deals with organizations larger than I try to associate with.

  • “Does This Enhance My Life?” is not quite the same question as “Is Anyone Using This?” That’s a question from the outside. “Does This Enhance My Life?” is a question from inside you. This can be more difficult to answer.
  • We are hardwired to understand stories
  • He saw the illusion of progress, but he didn’t see real progress.
  • Why I Use a Paper Kanban Board – I need a new WIP tracking system.
  • That overarching goal was critical to their success. – This succinctly defines my management style
  • Decide When to Choose Power-With or Power-Over – I haven’t seen it phrased quite this way, but it makes a tonne of sense
  • While cost accounting might treat people as resources, people are quite different from desks